Is It That Important?
In this article, I will explain about the importance of a police report if you have been involved in any kind of injury or collision or a crash between a car, a truck, a bicycle, a motorcycle, and any kind of motor vehicle accident involved, you got to do a police report. The first thing I want to mention is the orange document that you always get anytime. There's a motor vehicle crash, like a car crash, this is not a crash report this is the Illinois motorist report. And this is always like handwritten and it's often very difficult to read, and this is not the official crash report. This is like more about an exchange of information, so when we're looking at a crash report, these days it's usually typed in.
Illinois Traffic Crash Report
Now, this is the one that basically says Illinois traffic crash report. So, what do you need to know about the Illinois traffic crash report? Well, the first thing, just go top to bottom over here this is the Rd number. It's the report number, it’s super important to have the report numbers. So, that we can order this and reference it, if we ever have to up here are a bunch of numeric codes that the officer puts in and this includes the temperature, the road conditions, the lighting conditions, and all this sort of stuff.
There's a template that you can find online, this gives us information about what the officer says happen in the crash. We get the location of exactly where it happened, the date, and the time which again is super important. And then there is a section for unit 1 and they usually put the person who they think caused the collision in unit 1. And then the other cars get put in unit 2, and they can attach additional pages of this document if it's a multi vehicle situation. But we also get the information of the defendants name. The defendants date of birth, their address, their phone number, their driver's license, their plate number, and all of that information helps me find the defendant if they're ducking us.
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It Tells Us All The Needed Information
It also tells us the owner of the car, too. So, if we get a plate number and they run a plate and we know who the owner is, but it's a hit-and-run, the law presumes that the owner of the car was driving. Then there is another important box for the insurance and the policy number.
There is also a little diagram that shows where the damage to the car was, so that's important if two people have a very different idea of two different stories about how the crash occurred. Sometimes, that physical evidence is very important in determining who caused the crash and then we get that information for the other drivers as well. This is an important area where the people who were injured and or witnesses, so if somebody tells the police officer they saw the whole thing.
But you were not in a position to go get any witnesses phone numbers’ and names. These boxes here record the witnesses, it usually includes some identifying information including address and phone number which makes it easier for us to investigate. And then if somebody got a ticket, they include that info, and then the court date and all that stuff. So, that's the most important, the numeric codes and a template for them as well it gives us like lots of detailed information about the crash.
The Report Number
That's the first side and there are double-sided, so the second side is important, too. We’ve got the RD or report number here and then the officer draws a diagram about what he or she thinks happened or if they saw it. They draw it based on memory, otherwise it's based on an interview of the witnesses, and people involved.
And then down there is the narrative section where the officer writes down either what he or she saw and/or what the witnesses and parties said. This can be useful too if unit one who caused the crash starts telling us a story about what happened, and we know it's not true. But on the day of the crash, they told the office or something else that's super important for us tto know.
That's why getting a police report and investigating it and reading it and taking the time to get the information off the report is super important. So, hopefully that makes things clearer for you if you have any questions. If you've been injured and you need to talk or you have any questions, I offer a free no-obligation case strategy session. You can reach me 24/7 at 312-540-500. I am happy to answer your questions or you can get more information at my website at www.DeSalvolaw.com.
